AN expelled official, Zhou Jinwen, from a grass-roots government department in Guangming New Area, stood trial at Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on Tuesday morning, pleading guilty to charges of embezzling nearly 10 million yuan (US$1.45 million) during his tenure.

Zhou was the chief of the Baihua Community Work Station in Guangming Subdistrict. He was expelled from his former post last year for allegedly pocketing public money. The city’s procuratorate accused Zhou of taking advantage of his post to put nearly 10 million yuan into his own pocket.

According to the procuratorate, Zhou had transferred small sums from the government compensation fund for land expropriation between 2010 and 2015. By using his post as the work station’s chief and also chairman of the board of the community joint-stock company, Zhou ordered his subordinates to transfer a total of 8.6 million yuan to his personal account over 32 transactions.

Zhou and his wife, Lai Caixin, were also accused of lying in a statement that claimed that Lai owned properties along Guanguang Road in order to receive another compensation fund of 1.4 million yuan.

At Tuesday’s court hearing, Lai claimed that she had used the sums for household expenses, mainly daily expenditures and their children’s school fees. When asked about the motivation for the embezzlement, Zhou said that he and his wife did so because their household was short on money.

Zhou admitted to transferring the first 8.6 million yuan into his account, but he defended himself by saying that he had used the money for the community’s basketball team and to recruit more talents for the community.

(Zhang Qian)